Nomads' way to riches under Mt. Kangrinboqe

"There are five people in my family. Two of my sons, in their 20s, and I take the six horses of our family to carry tourists around the mountain. Last year, we earned nearly 40,000 yuan （6，047 US dollars）from this," Dawa Norbu, a nomad in his 50s, said.

Gangsha Village lies at the foot of Mt. Kangrinboqe, a holy mountain with a height of 6,656 meters. Since the beginning of the 1980s, the number of domestic and foreign tourists who come to make the kora (circumambulation) around the mountain has increased steadily. Thanks to this, more and more nomads from Gangsha Village who for generations made a living on the grasslands have begun to be involved in tourism.

For more than 30 years, Gangsha Village has relied on tourism to become well-known in Ngari Prefecture for getting richer: from initially dozens of scattered pilgrims each year to more than 100,000 pilgrims and tourists in 2017; from initially renting out a yak at 20 yuan (3.02 US dollars) a day to 240 yuan (36.28 US dollars) a day now; and for today, providing food, lodging, trekking, traveling, and shopping services to pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.